THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, Oh, that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.

The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up. And there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Now the maná was like coriander seed, and its appearance like the delium. The people went about and gathered and ground it in hand mills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it.

And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the maná fell with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, Why have you dealt ill with your servant?

And why have I not found favor in your sight? You laid the burden of all these people on me. Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom? Or as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers?

Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? They weep before me and say, give us meat that we might eat. I am not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I might not see my wretchedness.'

Then the Lord said to Moses, Gather for me seventy men of the elder of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, that they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you may not bear it yourself alone. And say to the people, consecrate yourself tomorrow and you shall eat meat for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying, who will give us meat to eat? But it was better for us in Egypt.

Therefore, the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat it just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and become loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come out of Egypt? But Moses said, The people the people among whom I am number 600,000 of food. And ye have said, I will give them meat that they may eat a whole month. Shall flocks and herds be a slaughter for them and be enough for them?

Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them and be enough for them? And the Lord said to Moses, is the Lord's hand shortened? You shall see whether my word will come true for you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders.

And as soon as the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, My Lord Moses, stop them.

But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit on them. And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Then a wind from the lower sprang up and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side around the camp and about two cubits above the ground. And the people rose all the day and all night and all the next day and gathered the quail.

Those who gathered gathered ten horns. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. While the meat was yet between their teeth, the meat was yet between their teeth before it was consumed. The anger of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. Therefore, the name of that place was called Kibrat Ha-Tath, because they buried the people, because there they buried the people who had the craving.

From he brought Hatavah, the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth. Amen. This is the Word of God. You can hear me, right? Beloved of Christ, Numbers chapter 11.

We have here the real condition of the heart of the people of God fully exposed. those who profess to be the people of God, the people of Israel. In Numbers 11, we have the real condition of their hearts completely exposed. Their spiritual reality, the substance that is in them, that which is inside of their souls, it is clearly manifested and is exposed. And the way that it is exposed is by the external complaining of the people of Israel.

They are going to complain before the Lord. The Lord who rescued them out of the land of Egypt. The Lord who showed them His mighty works. The Lord who showed them His mighty hand and His mighty judgment. They are going to externally complain with their mouth.

They are going to cry out because of their misfortunes. Beloved of Christ, the internal spiritual reality of those who profess to be in Christ, in this case, the people of Israel, is clearly manifested externally by the complaining of the people of Israel. And what a fearful thing! It's not been more than a year since they were liberated from their bondage in Egypt. No more than a year when they saw the majestic works of the Lord and the words of the Lord that they heard from Mount Sinai.

And they are complaining in their hearts, not only with their mouths, but in their hearts. What a fearful thing, beloved of Christ. that those who have witnessed the majesty, the power, the might of God are now complaining of the circumstances in which they are. They have just set out of Sinai three days into their journey. They have been given a promise of a land that they are going to inherit only three days into that journey.

and their hearts has been opened, and their mouth has been opened to complain against the Lord, that He not only gave them that promise, but that also gave them the law, the tabernacle, manifested Himself in the midst of the people. The spiritual reality is being manifested. Their hearts is being manifested. That which man cannot hide, That place in which the Spirit of God goes and searches and finds. That place, the Spirit of man has been manifested now.

That is the spiritual reality of those who profess to be the people of God through external complaining. What a fearful thing! Not only that this sin of the heart is manifested, beloved of Christ, but also that the judgment of the Lord is clearly manifested in this chapter. Fire came from the Lord to burn down the outward parts of the camp, the camp that He had organized, the camp that He had saved, the camp that He had decreed to be there, burned down from fire that came from Him. The sin that was exposed from the heart is now being judged by the Lord.

They're complaining about their misfortunes only three days in their journey, only three days. And they're complaining about the difficulties of that journey. And besides that, they are not complaining about the fact that they are tired from the manna that the Lord gave them. Now they want meat. The Lord sends a plague as a judgment upon that.

Beloved of Christ, what a fearful thing that the heart of a person who has been so close to the Lord, that the heart of a person who has been in the manifested presence of the Lord and with the people of God can so soon turn to disobedience, to sin and to rebellion. And the judgment of God clearly, visibly manifested just as His presence was clearly manifested in the midst of Israel. Also, His judgment was clearly manifested with fire coming down and also a plague to all of those people. But the most fearful thing, beloved of Christ, is that the example that we have in Numbers 11 and throughout the book of Numbers and the journey of the people of Israel through the wilderness towards the promised land, it is the example that is used in the New Testament especially by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians and also by the author of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 to speak of the church. Do not complain, the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 10.

Do not complain as they complained in the wilderness. Numbers 11 and the many complainings throughout this book. Do not complain as they complained in the wilderness and many of them fell. Many of them were destroyed. Do not complain as they did, because all of those things that took place were written down for your instruction church.

The Apostle says in First Corinthians chapter 10, all of those things that took place in the midst of the people of Israel, and all of these failings and the complaining and the murmuring and the judgments of God upon them because of the same took place as an example, as a shadow of that which can happen to you, those to whom the end of the ages has come. So then the apostle continues, and he says that if anyone among you in the church thinks that he stands firm, let them take heed, lest they fall. What a fearful thing, beloved of Christ. Not only the things that took place in Numbers chapter 11 and the many judgments of God upon the people of Israel through the book of Numbers, but the fact that the New Testament takes that particular example to apply it as a shadow of the church take heed. And the fearful thing there is that the assumption of the apostle, if you think that you stand firm, That is that there is a chance that within the context of the church, someone may think that they stand firm.

That is that the deceitfulness of the heart, even as a saved and regenerate person, the deceitfulness of our hearts can take us to believe that we stand firm. And we may not take heed and we may fall. What a fearful thing, beloved of Christ. that we may see and hear the things that took place in the book of Numbers and say that it happens only to the people of Israel. Even that we may think how foolish they are, in the fact that the manifested presence of God has been in the midst of them, and that they have received all of these mighty things from the Lord, and that they seen so soon after three days.

And I think that is something foolish. It will never happen to me. If I just see the Lord, the manifested presence of God, that will never happen to me. Would that be perhaps the warning of the apostle given in 1 Corinthians 10? If you think that you stand firm?

If you think that you are any different to the people of Israel? If you think that your heart is any different than the deceitfulness of the wicked heart of the people of Israel? If you think that your heart is just because you belong to a new covenant, is somehow different to the heart of those who profess to be the people of God in the old covenant? That might not be the case, beloved Christ. Wicked is our heart, it is deceitful above all things.

If you think that you stand firm, take heed lest you may fall." That is the fearful thing of this reality that we see here in chapter 11, Beloved of Christ. And the sin that these people committed in the Old Covenant was complaining against the Lord. Complaining against the Lord. The Lord who had provided everything that they needed.

The Lord who had manifested himself in their midst. The Lord who has shown his love and grace in visiting down and coming to save them out of the land of Egypt. That Lord that came to manifest all of that grace. They complained against him because of these misfortunes, because of the food that they had or they did not have. Beloved of Christ, Complaining, we might see it perhaps as something that they did that is just simply so foolish.

How are they going to complain if they have manna? How are they going to ask for meat if they had everything that they needed? Beloved of Christ, complaining in the heart before the Lord is just simply not being satisfied with the will of the Lord for our lives. That is what the satisfaction of complaining better is. Complaining in our circumstances is just simply that we are not satisfied with the will of the Lord for our lives.

Just as these people were not satisfied with the will of the Lord for the people of Israel. And soon, three days into the journey, they started to complain about these misfortunes, about the difficulties of the journey. Just as they were not satisfied with the manna that the Lord had provided for them to eat, and then because they were dissatisfied with that, they wanted to have meat, or all of the things that they had in Egypt. Beloved Christ, complaining before the Lord does not have to be so vocal as the complaint that the people of Israel had there in the book of Numbers. Because I'm pretty sure that you will self-justify, if that is a word, if I confront you to that.

We have not complained. I imagine that generally speaking, we don't complain with our mouth before the Lord. But complaining is a matter of the heart. It is dissatisfaction with the will of the Lord for our lives. And more than that, and in the root is dissatisfaction with God himself.

That is what we see in Numbers 11. We want to go to Egypt to have the food that was there, to have the garlic and the onions and the leek and all of the things that were in Egypt. We want to go back to the ways in which we were. That's why the anger and the wrath of the Lord is kindled. Because the people of Israel were not changing manna for meat.

They were changing Egypt for the Lord. They were rejecting the Lord. They were not fully satisfied in the Lord. And because they were not fully satisfied in the Lord, they will never be satisfied to His fullness in His will for their lives. So it took them only three days for them to complain in their hearts.

Now, the thing is that if there is any level of dissatisfaction in our hearts with the Lord, we are going to want to fill that with something. And that is not going to be God, but it's going to be the world. You see, with God, we are either satisfied in him or we change and feel that gap of satisfaction or lack of it with something of the world. And that is a dichotomy that the Apostle John presents in his first letter, either the world or the love of the father, either the love of the father of the love of the world. and the level of satisfaction that we have with the Lord, it is clearly manifested with the level of satisfaction that we have with the will of the Lord for our lives.

So that we do not complain in our hearts, secretly, with that which the Lord has given and has decreed for our lives. You see, beloved of Christ, there is a sense in which everything that happens into our life is perfect. And that is because God is in absolute control of everything that happens. And just because everything that happens is in absolute control in the hands of the sovereign one, then that means that for those who love God, all things work together for good. Those who are called according to His purpose.

Beloved of Christ, What a way to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience, knowing that He is perfect in absolutely everything that He decrees and He defines for our life, and that there is full satisfaction not only in what He decrees for our life, but in Himself. When you do not find satisfaction in Jesus Christ, the beloved of the Father, then your heart is naturally going to turn to something of this world and to try to seek temporal satisfaction in things that are perishing and passing away. Egypt, Egypt in our hearts. the garlic, the leek, the onions of Egypt in our heart, and desiring that instead of the things of God, and even evaluating the things of God as something that does not satisfy, Lord, your manna is not enough for me. Give me more of this other thing of the world of Egypt, beloved of Christ.

The level of satisfaction that we have in the Lord God who has saved us, is going to determine the level of satisfaction and peace that we have with the will of the Lord for our lives, lacking complaining and lacking any type of gaps in our hearts. How are we going to do that, beloved of Christ? How are we going to do that? Let me tell you that this is very difficult in the flesh, because it was not only the people of Israel, the one that complained, even Moses, Even Moses was told in the text that Moses was displeased with the anger of the Lord upon the people of Israel. And that Moses comes and says, these are your people.

These are not my people. You're the one who saved them out of the land of Egypt. You're the one who rescued them, even Moses. was displeased with the will of the Lord unto the people of Israel. Even Moses, the great Moses, the one who is the law, the one who is the teacher of Israel, even Moses was displeased with the will of the Lord.

Beloved of Christ, may the Lord give us a greater glimpse of who he is, so that the world may be of not desire for our souls. And this is what I want you to have from this and take from this, beloved of Christ, that the only way for us not to be dissatisfied with the Lord in our hearts is when we have a greater view of His mercy, when we have a greater view of His mercy. And in order for us to have a greater view of His mercy, we ought to have a greater view of what we really deserve. You see, if you deserve hell, then anything that is not hell becomes a blessing. If you deserve eternal punishment, then anything that is besides hell with eternal punishment, it is a blessing.

But it's when you think that you deserve something, as if you were something in and of yourself, is that you're going to be dissatisfied when you don't have access to whatever thing is that which takes your soul. your job, your money, your future, your spouse, your children, your education, your projects. When you think that you deserve something, when you think that you are entitled to receive a blessing, when you're entitled to be good or in this particular matter is when you don't see that the hand of the Lord working in the life of a genuine believer, Christ person, a Christian. Then the hand of the Lord is working for good for that person. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

Count it all joy when you're in trials, when you're in difficulty, when things are not happening as they are supposed to happen, when you have misfortunes in your journey in the spiritual wilderness going towards glory. Count it all joy. How are you going to count it all joy? Knowing that is the Lord Almighty, the one that is keeping us in his hands, sustaining us and giving us and the one that is ruling above all. But if we have an exalted view of self, then we're going to have a reduced view of his mercy.

And his mercy is not going to be anything else that I debt that God has to us. You have to give us food. The manna that you gave us is not sufficient. You should have given us something better. You should have taken us in a different way.

You should have done these things in a different way. What a wicked aspect of our heart, beloved of Christ. This can only be accomplished when we have a greater view of His mercy and a greater view of the unrighteousness that is in us. And there's no other place in which the view of the mercy of God is magnified than in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved of Christ, if we don't understand how much we have been forgiven, if we do not understand how much is the value of being united to Christ, Then you're going to be craving as the people of Israel for the things of Egypt.

You're going to be craving for the things of this world. You're going to be craving and desire, desiring to have things that you do unto and for yourself. If you don't have a glimpse of the glory of Christ, his love being manifested upon that cross when he paid for your sins. If you do not understand your unrighteousness in view of his holiness upon that cross, then your profession of faith is going to be an external manifestation of religion, of men that has zero power inside. And you may think that you stand firm.

And you may not take heed, lest you fall. And you may be deceived in your religious, cold, empty ways. You see, there is a sense in which in Christ we are to be meek and feeble and needy to come to Christ, to see his greatness and to acknowledge our unrighteousness and how feeble we are, because it's in that place where we are weak that we are made strong. It's when we recognize how sinners, how sinful we are and how low we are, that the beauty of Christ is magnified and that the vessel that is dirty is cleansed by the Spirit to be used for his glory. Then no toil is too burdensome when it's done for the Lord.

Then no effort is too burdensome when it's for the Lord. Take us through the wilderness, even if it's winter or if it's cold. Take us through the wilderness, even if we don't have the things that our flesh desires. We have you, O Lord, and we have tasted that you are good. Forsake Babylon and forsake Egypt.

towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the one that is ahead, the one that is exemplified in the person of Jesus Christ, magnified in the gospel, a greater view of his mercy in light of a greater view of our unrighteousness, clearly seen in the gospel of Jesus Christ and clearly presented through the preaching of his word. That's why the Lord says, go and get 70 elders so that they will prophesy, so that the word of the Lord will be in the midst of these people of Israel. And Moses, when someone comes to say, there's two people that are prophesying and they're not supposed to be prophesying, let them. I wish that all Israel would be prophesying, which is going to be fulfilled in Joel when the new covenant and now the word of the Lord is among us. The Word of the Spirit is now among us, given to us to be manifested among us, to portray Christ as victorious, to portray Jesus Christ as our Savior, and to remind us that apart from Jesus Christ, we deserve the fire that comes from heaven, that burns not only the outward parts of the camp, but entirely.

That apart from Jesus Christ, we deserve the plagues of Egypt that fall on us entirely. And when we know that, beloved of Christ, there's no other option for the heart of the soul of a regenerated person who is walking in the Spirit than to be absolutely thankful for the person of Jesus Christ. And then just the naming of His name moves your internal, everything that we have inside and then the world becomes despicable to your eyes because his beauty has now been clearly manifested not through your physical eyes but by the glorious power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that said that by grace through faith Those who deserve fire and judgment have been unified to Him, to spend eternity with Him, partakers of the divine nature, saved eternally. The question is not why some people are sent to hell. The question is why some people are united to Him in heaven.

The question is not why some people are not elected unto salvation. The question is why some people are elected to be with Him. greater view of our unrighteousness, so that the glory of Christ is clearly manifested to our eyes. And those who walk in him empowered to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, giving him thanks for everything that comes our way, knowing that he is the one that is in control of everything, doing everything in the spirit for the glory of the glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, the lover of our soul. Amen.